1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with the certain novel esters derived from a specific 36 carbon diol and guerbet acids, which unlike other esters are surprisingly stable to hydrolysis and consequently of interest in high and low pH applications.
2. Description of the Art Practices
Guerbet alcohols have been known for many years, primarily for their liquidity at high molecular weight. Over the years there have been a number of derivatives patented.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,236 to O""Lenick discloses a guerbet citric ester and polymers thereof useful in plastic lubrication.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,121 issued Jan. 30, 1996 to O""Lenick teaches that esters based upon a guerbet acid and guerbet alcohol have surprisingly good liquidity.
All of these materials are subject to hydrolysis, a retrograde reaction in which water breaks down the ester into the starting materials. The rate of hydrolysis in esters is directly related to pH, limiting their usefulness to pH below 10 and above 5. Unfortunately, there are a number of cosmetic applications in which both conditions of pH are commonly encountered. There include hair treatments, including relaxers (pH 13) and hydroxy acid formulations (pH below 5). The compositions of the present invention unlike standard esters are stable at these pH values. Consequently, they can be used to provide conditioning, emmoliency, and barrier properties to hair and skin at these high and low pH values.
It is the objective of the present invention to provide novel ester compositions, based upon (a) specific branched guerbet acids and (b) a novel dimer alcohol, which when both present in the same molecule result in an ester that exhibits outstanding stability at high and low pH values, heretofore unattainable.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a process for conditioning hair and skin using formulations having a pH below 5 or above 10 using said novel ester compositions, based upon (a) specific branched guerbet acids and (b) a novel dimer alcohol.
Other objectives will become apparent reading the present teachings.
The compositions of the current invention conform to the following formulae; 
with a guerbet acid conforming to the following structure;
and 
wherein;
R is
(CH2)bxe2x80x94CH3
CH3xe2x80x94(CH2)axe2x80x94CHxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94
xe2x80x83wherein
a, b, are independently integers ranging from 4 to 18.
The compositions of the present invention are made by the esterification of a dimer dimol diacid conforming to the following structure: 
(CH2)bxe2x80x94CH3
CH3xe2x80x94(CH2)axe2x80x94CHxe2x80x94C(O)xe2x80x94OH
wherein;
a, b, are independently integers ranging from 4 to 18.
Another aspect of the present invention is a process for conditioning hair and skin, which comprises contacting the hair or skin with an effective conditioning concentration of a composition conforming to the following formula; 
a, b, are independently integers ranging from 4 to 18.
In a preferred embodiment a is 5 and b is 3.
In a preferred embodiment a is 7 and b is 5.
In a preferred embodiment a is 9 and b is 7.
In a preferred embodiment a is 11 and b is 9.
In a preferred embodiment a is 13 and b is 11.
In a preferred embodiment a is 17 and b is 15.
In a preferred embodiment a is 19 and b is 17.
In a preferred embodiment, the effective conditioning concentration ranges from 0.1 to 20% by weight.
In a preferred embodiment, the effective conditioning concentration ranges from 1 to 10% by weight.